Leash laws are poorly enforced in San Diego because the Humane Society doesn’t deploy enough enforcement officers, doesn’t write enough citations and responds too slowly to complaints, the county grand jury says.
Citations are down 90% year over year, response times have skyrocketed and the Humane Society rarely meets its contractual obligation to deploy at least four enforcement officers each day, the grand jury says in a new 27-page report.
The grand jury also criticizes city officials for weak oversight and enforcement of their contract with the Humane Society, which requires the nonprofit to enforce leash laws at 400 city parks and other venues.
Humane Society officials said Wednesday that the report was filled with “blatant misrepresentations” and subjective characterizations of the organization’s staff and enforcement efforts.
“A more balanced and fact-based process would have better served the public interest,” the nonprofit added.
The report speculates that the Humane Society may be denying the city paid-for leash enforcement services, especially since the city and the nonprofit agreed on a new 10-year partnership in June 2023.
“The city should investigate or evaluate whether SDHS is undertaking improper cost-saving measures or failing to hire staff,” the grand jury says.
The report comes as the city and the Humane Society are negotiating a reduction in the city’s annual payout because of a city budget crisis. For now, the city is due to pay the Humane Society $18.2 million in the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
The grand jury report says a key problem could be that Humane Society staffers don’t enthusiastically embrace the duty of enforcing leash laws, which aim to keep people safe from dog bites and attacks in public parks.
“Officers are frequently the recipients of hostile, abusive and potentially threatening responses from individuals who have been approached and cited for violations,” the report says. “These officers did not want to be seen as ‘dog catchers,’ but preferred to participate in less stressful duties emphasizing the more ‘humane’ part of their duties.”
In other interviews with the grand jury, Humane Society enforcement officers said “leash enforcement has no easy answers and is less about who’s writing tickets than respect and education,” the report says.
City officials offered similar sentiments in interviews, the report says.
“A Parks and Recreation representative equated citing leash-law violators to the hopelessness of catching speeders on the freeway— ‘Everyone does it,’” the report says.
Humane Society officials have said in the past that their approach to leash laws is complicated, explaining that they are reluctant to ticket the owners of well-behaved dogs who are just trying to get their dogs needed exercise.
The city has 18 off-leash parks, but many residents live too far away from those parks for them to be convenient enough for regular use.
Off-leash activity — along with the left-behind animal waste that comes with it — has become a significant problem at t-use parks overseen by the city and the San Diego Unified School District.
Officials say waste is less likely to get picked up by owners when dogs are running off leash because the dogs are more likely to relieve themselves too far away for their owners to see.
The grand jury report also criticizes signage in city parks, suggesting signs should be updated to explain potential penalties for running dogs off-leash.
“The lack of information regarding Municipal Code violations and potential penalties on these signs raises questions about the City’s commitment to deterrence,” the report says.
The Humane Society harshly criticized the grand jury report.
“We must respectfully express our deep concern over several blatant misrepresentations in the report regarding the scope of our contract, the division of responsibilities between San Diego Humane Society and the city, and the nature and oversight of our enforcement work,” it said in a statement. “It is troubling that the report includes subjective characterizations of SDHS staff and enforcement efforts, rather than an objective evaluation of data and contractual obligations.”
A city spokesperson said the city is in the process of preparing a response.
